1. Field
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a vehicle lamp including a position lamp attached to the outside of a vehicle such as a car, and more particularly to a vehicle lamp including a position lamp in a headlight, an auxiliary headlight, a taillight and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional position lamp is usually attached to the outside of a vehicle such as a car for the purpose of showing a width of the driven vehicle and for showing a following distance between other vehicles and the driven vehicle so that drivers of the other vehicles are aware of the position of the driven vehicle. The position lamp can be described as a clearance lamp in some cases and is often included in a headlight and a taillight in order to reduce both the cost and the space thereof. In this case, the position lamp is attached to the front of a vehicle along with the headlight and is attached to the rear of a vehicle along with the taillight.
However, according to a recent trend in vehicle design, because the four corners of the body of the vehicle are tending to be reduced in a circle or generally arcuate or aerodynamic configuration, the position lamp located at the outermost position with respect to other vehicle lamps is forced to move towards the inside of the vehicle lamp. Therefore, it becomes difficult to confirm the position lamp from the side of the vehicle and to also maintain the intended purpose of the position lamp. As it becomes easier to confirm the position lamp from the side of the vehicle, the position lamp is forced to be structured with a smaller space.
For instance, FIG. 4 is a top cross-section view showing an exempla of a vehicle lamp including a conventional position lamp, which is disclosed in Patent document No. 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid Open H04-334802). According to the vehicle lamp 90 which includes the conventional position lamp 91, the position lamp 91 is configured to be located along the side surface of a vehicular body 80. Therefore, when a driver turns on a bulb 92 at twilight, rain, darkness, fog, night and the like, the driver can operate the vehicle lamp 90 as a position lamp using the bulb 92.
In this case, a cup 92a can be configured to change the light-emitting color of the bulb 92 in order to conform to a light distribution regulatory standard. In addition, an inner lens 93 and/or an outer lens 94 can also be colored with orange color, white color and the like so as to conform to a light distribution regulatory standard of a position or other lamp. Thus, the vehicle lamp 90 can show the vehicular width of the driven vehicle using the position lamp 91 to another vehicle, person, etc.
In the vehicle lamp 90 the side surface extends along the vehicular body 80 such that the front corner or the rear corner is reduced in a small circle, or arcuate shape, or aerodynamic shape, etc., and an outer lens 94 can include a protruding portion 94a thereon. Therefore, because a sight of the position lamp 91 can be expanded even in a diagonal view of the vehicle, it becomes easy to confirm the vehicular width of the vehicle.
Patent document No. 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open H04-334802
However, in the conventional structure using the above-described protruding portion 94a, the larger the area is reduced in the corners of the vehicle body, the larger the area of the protruding portion 94a becomes. Thus, the large protruding portion 94a causes a problem such as disfeaturing the vehicle (design/aesthetic limitation) and an adequate protruding portion 94a may sometimes not be included on the outer lens 94 by structural constraints.
The conventional structure of the vehicle lamp 90 can include the protruding portion on the inner lens 93. However, because the outer lens 94 is usually transparent in recent vehicles, the protruding portion on the inner lens 93 can be expressly seen from the outside via the outer lens 94. Therefore, the protruding portion on the inner lens 93 also causes a problem such as design limitation and spoiling of the beauty of the vehicle. In addition, another problem may exist when the inner lens 93 includes a corresponding protruding portion in that a protruding portion 94a may not always be able to be included on the outer lens 94 due to structural and/or design constraints.
Furthermore, the bulb 92 of the position lamp 91 may include an optical axis thereof that is positioned at an angle with respect to an optical axis of other light sources such as a headlight, stop lamp and the like. Thus, because a width in a side direction of the position lamp 91 becomes thick, another problem may exist in that a space for other lamp(s) adjacent the position lamp 91 becomes small.
The disclosed subject matter has been devised to consider the above and other problems, features and characteristics. An embodiment of the disclosed subject matter can include a position (e.g., a positioning, turning, back-up, or other lamp) with a favorable light distribution structured with a small space in a headlight, an auxiliary headlight, a taillight and the like, and the position lamp can be clearly visible even in a diagonal view of the vehicle, in which four corners of the vehicle are reduced while maintaining a beautiful outside appearance. Furthermore, because the position lamp allows a large space for other lamp(s) such as a headlight, a taillight and the like included in the vehicle lamp, the disclosed subject matter can expand the possibility of the vehicular lamp design.